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Cañon City Chamber of Commerce's tourist cabin to reopen May 15

The 'West Visitor Center' at Veterans Park will reopen for the season and operate May 15 - Sept. 15. (Carie Canterbury / Daily Record)

After sitting vacant for three years, the tourist cabin at Veterans Park will reopen May 15 for the summer season.

Chamber of Commerce Interim Director Kris Graham-Webb said the "West Visitor Center" will be open daily from May 15 through Sept. 17. During that time, the Chamber office, 403 Royal Gorge Blvd., will be closed on weekends, allowing more parking for downtown visitors. Webb said about 20 volunteers and one seasonal worker will help run the cabin.

The Cañon City Public Works Committee during its regular meeting Wednesday agreed to contribute $2,400 toward the project, which will help with operations and some permanent signage.

The committee also agreed to contribute $1,550 toward the 2014 Entertainment in the Park event, hosted by the Chamber of Commerce. The event runs 13 weeks, from 7 - 9 p.m. Tuesdays, June to August, in Veterans Park.

In other business, John Marietta of the Royal Gorge Whitewater Festival and the Fremont Community Foundation spoke to the committee, asking if the city would be able to help monetarily with the Holy Smoke BBQ Showdown and the RGWWF. The request was for $10,000, but he said the organizations would be happy with any amount the city would be able to contribute.

Marietta said the Holy Smoke BBQ Showdown last year barely broke even, and the event will move from the Abbey to Veterans Park this summer.

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"One of the reasons we moved it downtown was to try to get some cost savings from the power that is available in the park, and we also think it adds benefit to the downtown merchants by bringing people directly downtown, instead of being on the east end of town away from the central business district," he said.

Marietta said every dollar FCF doesn't have have to pay in putting on the event, can be donated back to other local nonprofits. The foundation raised and distributed more than $19,000 in 2013.

City Administrator Doug Dotson said the consultants from RNL said events and festivals are an important piece of the community's future; however, most are marketed separate and alone. The consultants recommend creating an events committee that will be directed to orchestrate events and develop a significant marketing campaign to position the community to its new brand.

They suggest allocating the $50,000 the city currently contributes from its operating budget to nonprofits to the events committee each year for economic development purposes and one centralized marketing campaign.

"What I would encourage is that we take this opportunity to send a message to all these groups, if you agree with this approach, and next year, taking that money that we have been providing for the non-profits, putting that into economic development, and economic development would spin out," Dotson said. "It still achieves the same objective that we have helping nonprofits with causes, but we are gearing it through economic development."

Councilman Dennis Wied suggested the FCF and RGWWF move forward with this year's events without city assistance at this time but talk about the economic development pathway next year. Dotson said the city will begin working on the 2015 budget in August, and perhaps the groups can come together and set the stage for going forward.

In an unrelated matter, the Downtown Heritage display is likely to be complete by Blossom Weekend. The display, set in vacant Main Street storefront windows, tells the story of Cañon City and celebrates the heritage of the Royal Gorge region. It not only will educate people on the town's heritage, it will help to get people moving up and down Main Street, Dotson said. The panels include photos and narratives that address the area's agriculture and mining, the Colorado State Penitentiary, historical churches, early pioneers and settlers, early paleo history of the area, historic movie industry, and more.

Also during the meeting, Fremont County Emergency Manager Steve Morrisey presented the Southwest Cañon Community Wildfire Protection Plan. The plan looks at the overall designated area, vegetation types, terrain features, structures in the area and more. Community Wildfire Protection Plans are available at fremontco.com, under the Emergency Management tab.

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